MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/. The Russian side is gradually moving away from using the term "unfriendly countries," arguing that there are unfriendly governments, not states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference, focused on preparations for the Intervision song contest.
He expressed hope that Intervision will become an annual event and the host country of the next contest will be announced shortly after the final.
TASS has gathered key statements by the top Russian diplomat.
Russia is gradually abandoning the term "unfriendly countries," because, as Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized recently, "we don’t have unfriendly countries, there are countries which have governments with unfriendly policies toward the Russian Federation."
Russia "would have been happy" to see Armenian performers at Intervision and they are aware of this: "Our Armenian friends know perfectly well that the contest is being held and the question as to why there are no representatives of Armenian culture among the participants should not be addressed to us."
